Formal Statement of Fact Signed in a Criminal Investigation Afrikaans

Created by Annie Berry for Rhodesian Forces Oral History Project ad – stands for accidental discharge affidavits – formal statement of fact signed in a criminal investigation afrikaans – south african dialect of dutch descent afrikaner – south african of dutch descent agricalert – an agricultural alert system whereby surrounding farms, police or Army were on a network that could be alerted if a farm came under attack, so that a defence stick could immediately be dispatched aldeamentos – portuguese version of the protected village concept assimilado – portuguese term for africans who had proved themselves to have met certain standards of assimilation with the portuguese language and culture b-cars – term used by BSApolice for patrol cars backie – south african term for a pick-up truck batmen – soldiers assigned to commissioned officers as personal servants bergen – military-style rucksack braai / braaivleis– roasted meat barbeque, afrikaans/south african origin bright lights – term used for guards who usually came from the ‘bright lights’ of the city, as stationed guards in rural areas, sometimes part of the bsap police reserve (?), but the term also seems to have grown to include those working through private security groups/by local arrangement. ‘official’ bright lights wore blue uniforms and didn’t get camouflage. blue jobs – air force troops, so called because they wear blue uniforms (as opposed to brown). blue girls refers to women working in the rhodesian air force. blue on blue – e.g. a death that occurred as a result of rhodesian (usually accidentally) attack on other Rhodesians, as a case of mistaken identity brown jobs – army or ground troops, so called because they wear brown uniforms (as opposed to blue) bumbazonke – a nickname those living in bulawayo gave to salisbury, meaning ‘have it all’ because they seemed to get all of the best investment and facilities bundu – bush/rural areas outside of town cadres – communist – originating term used for opposition troops casevac – casualty evacuation (usually by helicopter) chibuku – an African home-brewed ‘beer’ chicken run – nickname to describe the actions of rhodesians who left the country during the war. this then changed to the ‘wise own run’ when people started to believe that in fact, this could be considered the wise thing to do chilapalapa is a language spoken primarily in zimbabwe and zambia, where it is called 'cikabanga', and a variant used in south africa is called fanagalo chimurenga – war of liberation civvies – local civilian populations / can also mean civilian clothing (i.e. not in uniform) Created by Annie Berry for Rhodesian Forces Oral History Project comms / commies – communists copper belt – mining area of zambia, so-called for its rich copper mines copperpot – the place you’d go after returning from the field to debrief and relax dagga – marijuana dare – a council of elders dial sight – optical sighting system used for mortars and machine guns docket – a schedule of proceedings within a court of law doppies – firearm cartridge shells, used for ballistics erk – world war 2 slang term for a lowly ranked soldier fanagalo – pidgin (simplified language) based on the Zulu, English, and Afrikaans languages. See chilapalapa above fire force – quick reaction group of helicopters, supported by a k-car floppy – dead terrorist (floppy body) fuzz – nickname for the police g-cars – troop-carrying helicopters, which would be led by the k-car gook - terrorist gukurahundi – translates as ‘the early rain which washes away chaff before the spring rain’ often used to refer to suppression (or alleged period of ethnic cleansing) in ndebele regions of zimbabwe by fifth brigade soldiers hamstring – hamstringing an animal involved crippling them by cutting/slashing their hamstring muscle hobo – american term for a vagrant, a homeless/countrified person – a hobo dance would be an informal dance, or a barn dance intaf – internal affairs irksome / erksome – something causing annoyance jambok – sometimes sjambok – a whip (afrikaans) k-cars – command car helicopters with a canon on, which would hold the battle commander in it and lead the other helicopters/troops kaffir – offensive term for a black person. its origin is arabic, meaning ‘one who does not believe in god’ kaffir boetie – ‘brother of the blacks’ derived from boatie meaning brother in afrikaans keep – a shelter, usually used to refer to the main shelter within a protected village kitchen kaffir – past use of ‘kitchen servant’ but most people used it in the context of a very basic form of pidgin language, so called because it would have been to communicate with kitchen servants, about only the essentials, such as food knobkerrie – a club or truncheon-type weapon Created by Annie Berry for Rhodesian Forces Oral History Project kopje/koppie – small hill (afrikaans) kosh – thumb i.e. under the kosh/thumb kraal – south african village enclosed by a wall, or sometimes a pen to hold animals laager – south african camp with wagons circled for defence – also used as ‘laager mentality’ meaning a defensive mentality, of being under-attack little red book – refers to mao tse-tung’s little red book, which was issued as an information tool to those sympathetic with mao’s communist message mahuris – a prostitute ??? matric – stands for matriculation mbangi - marijuana mukwa – a type of hardwood tree e.g. “thick as mukwa” mujiba – a young ‘spy’ boy who was planted, or used, by nationalist fighters to report on goings on in an area or village ngangas – (also inyanga or n’anga) a form of spirit medium/herbalist-type ‘witch doctor’ outbrassed – outranked, where a commanding officer of one unit is senior in rank to that of another unit patu – police anti terrorist unit pc – political correctness/politically correct, i.e. use of language that is sensitive to the offence it may cause petty apartheid – socially reinforced, as opposed to legally-enforced apartheid pfumo re vanhu – spear of the people, an auxiliary military group formed for bishop abel muzorewa pisé de terre – house made of mud pole and dagga – type of construction, similar to wattle and daub, from sticks and mud police reserves – reserves was a very broadly used term for any non-regular (i.e. voluntary) police work – this could have been with patu, bright lights, or in a station pookie – mine detection and clearance vehicle pt – physical training, sometimes used as punishment pv – protected village – an area that a village has been moved to, in order to be guarded or put under curfew, so that monitoring of population can take place. also cv – collective or consolidated villages pwd – public works department r & r – rest and recuperation or recreation rat pack – ration pack reccie – reconnaissance (i.e. investigative) mission regular – a regular is someone who is paid to work in the army/police regularly as Created by Annie Berry for Rhodesian Forces Oral History Project opposed to via volunteering or national service rhodie – someone from rhodesia rit – removal in transit, refers to the removal of products from one country, through rhodesia, into another country rondavel – a round hut rooigevaar – afrikaans word for the ‘red danger,’ i.e. communist threat rooineck – redneck, a stranger, someone unused to the african sun sam browne – a leather belt with a strap across the shoulder, seen as part of the military or police uniform; possibly as a sign of status sangomas – medicine doctors/spiritualist ‘witch doctor’ shavé – (pronounced sha-vey) an unquiet spirit that can haunt people sitreps – situation reports – reports updating on the security of, and incidents in, an area sjambok – heavy leather whip, traditionally made from rhinoceros hide slotted – shot soutie or soutpiel – derogatory afrikaans word for the english, literally translates as ‘salt penis,’ refers to people who have one foot in africa and one foot in britain, and their penis dangling in the sea in between! spoor – signs of someone’s passage, used when tracking square bashing – parade marching within training grounds stick – often used to refer to a police anti-terrorist unit ‘stick;’ a group of four or five soldiers/police who would undertake patrols together stint – period of time someone goes out on a tour of duty/call up strips or narrow tar – refers to the two narrow strips of tar that were used on roads as an economical alternative to surfacing the entire road sudza – ground (corn) mealies eaten as a staple part of the diet sunshine girls – girls or women who went out to Rhodesia to work via the so-called ‘sunshine scheme’ svikiros – different type of spirit medium/spiritual leader tackies – trainers or plimsolls used for sport terr(s) – terrorists ticking – someone ticking themself when drunk, meant they were ‘ticking over,’ i.e. just managing to stay sober ticky – a threepenny piece tokolosh(e) – a mystical monster/spirit monster, which is capable of killing troopie – endearing term for a soldier of the rank of trooper or private – sometimes used to denote a soldier regardless of rank Created by Annie Berry for Rhodesian Forces Oral History Project tshombe – a sell-out ttl – tribal trust land veld – grassland with scattered shrubs and trees, e.g. high-veld and low-veld wattle and daub – building method of wall construction using sticks to make a structure, which are then covered in wet material such as mud or dung Military abbreviations: 2IC – second in command AFV – armoured fighting vehicle AMA – armed militant?? AO – e.g. operated in a small AOXXX??? APA – African purchase area APs – assembly

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